


All That Glisters

by LookingForOctober



Series: Ellen and Geoffrey and Oliver and Shakespeare [4]
Category: Slings & Arrows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-25 02:32:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21348802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LookingForOctober/pseuds/LookingForOctober
Summary: Darren Nichols directs The Merchant of Venice in the AU.  Five connected double drabbles.
Series: Ellen and Geoffrey and Oliver and Shakespeare [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1456531
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Darren Nichols was back in New Burbage, directing The Merchant of Venice. He hadn't been Oliver's first choice, but there was room in Oliver's lineup for third choices.

He just wished the man would discuss his production in less painful detail.

"This play is about the vitality of the heart, and therefore..." Oliver tried not to yawn... "It will be set inside of a beating heart. The left side, sending blood to the body, will be Venice -- you can see that, can you not? And the other side -- blood to be oxygenated -- will be Belmont.

"The perfect, unvarying rhythm of heartbeats will underlie the action from the beginning, until the audience is so used to it that they forget it entirely. And then-- in the courtroom, which is not ruled by the heart, the heart will stop. Of course, you will be wondering..."

Darren continued for several more minutes, very pleased with his conceit.

It would be striking, and the audience for this production might not notice anything except the obvious. But an unvarying, mechanically beating heart -- had Darren thought about the implications, or was he simply oblivious to anything outside of his own plan?

No matter. It would do.


	2. Chapter 2

Oliver ran into Brynn on the stairs. He was going up, she was coming down the banister. When she reached Oliver, she tilted right off, into Oliver's legs, under the model of Darren's set Oliver was carrying. The noise of young voices further up retreated when they saw Oliver tottering. Wise.

She'd grown recently, but hadn't lost any of her wild childish energy. Oliver considered the hunch of her shoulders, the rush of her hands steadying the model furniture, the way she avoided his gaze. She'd suddenly shown up at the theatre this year, when last year she'd been all avoidance. 

"Please, Oliver, don't tell--"

She avoided her parents, though. She tried to hang out with the younger actors, if they would let her. 

"Your friends?"

"No, don't tell--" Her eyes fixed on the model Oliver carried. "Him."

"And why are you concern about Mr. Nichols?"

"He told me that if I could prove to his satisfaction that I truly deserved the part of Launcelot Gobbo, he would give it to me."

Oliver sighed, truly pained. "Break a leg," he said. He was certain this wouldn't end well for anyone involved, which included most of the mainstays of his theatre.


	3. Chapter 3

Oliver was never sure why the way between worlds opened, but he always took the opportunity. Could anyone really resist 'It's a Wonderful Life'? The world without Oliver Welles as artistic director was a fiasco.

When he returned, he saw his world with new eyes, and he felt his power. Take Geoffrey, for example. Playing Richard II, he was a brilliant actor, but he was capable of bringing far more deviousness.

Or take Ellen. The mother of the brat known as Brynn. She was less omnipresent at the theatre this season -- giving Brynn room, occasionally with little glances at Oliver like 'this is how it's done'. Oliver knew that sometimes they both chaffed under his management, but they still needed him.

He drew Ellen into his office and closed the door. They chatted. Ellen was pleasant, until Oliver dropped the bombshell. "Were you aware that she's setting herself up against Darren Nichols?"

Oliver steepled his fingers. He was enjoying this. "What I'm curious about, Ellen, is whether you could really have had no idea, or did you set her up to learn a painful but necessary lesson about the theatre?"

Ellen's jaw jutted. "No, Oliver. Tell me what's going on."


	4. Chapter 4

Oliver waited. "He's a four dimensional villain pretending to be a one dimensional villain because--" Geoffrey was caught in a portion of a picture that didn't matter right now.

And waited. "Why don't you ever talk to me? How can I help you if you won't--" Ellen was caught enacting a stereotypical mother-daughter relationship.

And waited. "Uncle Oliver?" A couple of years since the last time Oliver remembered Brynn using that address. "Ah, Brynn," he said.

"Is there something I can do for you?" Oliver prompted.

Nervous energy melted, revealing underlying firmness, some obscure worry assuaged. "I want to show you something," she said. Oliver followed her into a small soundproof room, where she gave her audition.

"Why are you showing me this?" he asked. Why not your parents, he didn't say specifically, but they both knew what he meant.

"Because you'll tell me the truth," Brynn said. "Before--"

Oliver was touched by her faith in his veracity.

"Do you think I deserve the part?" she asked.

Oliver sighed. What a question. "The truth is, you're going about it all wrong," he said. "No, not your acting, everything else. Let me tell you what you should say to your mother."


	5. Chapter 5

Opening night of Darren Nichols' Merchant of Venice: Oliver circulated, listening to the varied reactions. 

"What a spectacle!"

"It's a distraction."

"Don't you see? The pools of red water are blood... When they step into those tiny boats, they're navigating the heart's treacherous waters..."

"But what does that mean?"

Ellen sidled up to Oliver. "What do you think?" she asked.

"I was expecting your daughter to have a larger part."

"And less blood?" Ellen said archly.

"That too."

"After Brynn came to me, Geoffrey and I decided it would be better for Brynn to go slowly around Darren. Around this theatre. We talked to the drama teacher at her school instead. She's happy."

"Geoffrey," Oliver said heavily. He may have miscalculated. Misassessed their resources.

"We thought our daughter deserved something better than Darren Nichols," Ellen said, smiling sweetly.

"And the blood?"

"I might have made a few remarks in Darren's hearing," Ellen admitted. "Geoffrey told me that all you have to do is convince Darren that he'll have an audience, and he'll do absolutely anything."

"But why, Ellen?"

"Because the wages of unthinking spectacle are exactly what he deserves."

Oliver had indeed miscalculated. 

No matter, there was always next season.


End file.
